1968 Topps #481 John Wyatt
About John Wyatt
The last Topps card of Wyatt's career comes from the sixth series, and it carries his best line: 1967, when he went 10-7 with a 2.60 ERA and 20 saves in 60 games as the closer of the Impossible Dream Red Sox. In Game Six of the World Series he gave up Lou Brock's game-tying two-run homer, then watched Boston rally to make him the winning pitcher. The Yankees bought his contract on May 17, 1968, and Detroit had him by mid-June.
John Wyatt was a right-handed relief pitcher, born April 19, 1935, in Chicago and raised in Buffalo, New York. He signed out of high school with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League and pitched for them from 1953 to 1955, with a season in the St. Louis Cardinals chain in 1954 that ended in his release. Kansas City's organization picked him up in 1956, and after two years in the Army and stops that reached as far as the Mexican League, he arrived in the majors with the Athletics in September 1961, already 26. He became the workhorse of the Kansas City bullpen, attacking hitters with a sidearm fastball and shrugging off years of accusations that he greased the ball. In 1964 he set a major league record with 81 appearances and made his only All-Star team. Traded to Boston in June 1966, he was the Red Sox bullpen ace of the 1967 Impossible Dream pennant race and won Game Six of the World Series against St. Louis. He pitched for the Yankees and the pennant-winning Tigers in 1968 and for Oakland in 1969, finishing 42-44 with 103 saves and a 3.47 ERA. He died April 6, 1998, in Omaha, Nebraska.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · National Baseball Hall of Fame · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 429 | 39 | 163 | 177 | 29 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 32 | 0 | 12 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted. Slabs of the yellow team-letter #49 and #66 are 1968 Milton Bradley game cards and are not counted here.
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Related cards
More Boston Red Sox cards:
- #2 American League 1967 Batting Leaders
- #4 American League 1967 RBI Leaders
- #6 American League 1967 Home Run Leaders
- #10 American League 1967 Pitching Leaders
- #12 American League 1967 Strikeout Leaders
- #26 Darrell Brandon
- #43 Gary Bell
- #61 Reggie Smith
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- #106 Dalton Jones
- #123 Jose Santiago
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- #152 World Series Game #2 - Yaz Smashes Two Homers
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #481 card?
It is card #481 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing John Wyatt of the Boston Red Sox.
Is 1968 Topps #481 a scarce card?
It is from the sixth print series (cards 458-533). Together with series 7 it forms the #458-598 block that hobby sources price at a modest premium; several catalogs call these cards high numbers outright.
How many cards are in the 1968 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 606 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 598 without a gap and no printed number carries two different cards; eight cards - six of the seven checklists, #10 AL Pitching Leaders and #400 Mike McCormick - carry a catalogued print variation that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, Baseball Almanac, Beckett, Baseball-Reference, the SABR BioProject and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-13.